Right.
Evidence of meeting #38 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was naturalization.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #38 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was naturalization.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Right.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
To change that would impact maybe 80 to 100 Canadians and their kids. How many would it impact?
3:55 p.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm sorry, it's far more than that.
3:55 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's several hundred.
3:55 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's several hundred, because we do 2,000 a year.
3:55 p.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We do 2,000 a year. Through naturalization there are about 1,300 and through immigration there are about 800.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Oh, it's 800. Right, of course. I'm sorry; it's 800. I'm not looking at....
3:55 p.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Maybe I have one thing I could add to your question: some parents could not bring their children for adoption because they are not residents of Canada. Through citizenship, it allows them to be—
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
I'm not concerned about those. I understand that, yes.
You're saying it would impact the kids of these 800 parents if they decide to have their child abroad, but how many Canadian parents would it impact for the children born abroad? I know you're now equating adopted by Canadian parents versus born abroad to a Canadian parent. One impacts on about 800 people. How many does the other one impact on?
3:55 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's hard to have an accurate number, because not all of these parents come forward and apply for proof of citizenship for their child, but on an annual basis we may do 40,000 or more requests for a proof of citizenship for people who are born abroad. In some cases those are replacement proofs, so that number is not exact, but it gives you an idea of the number we're talking about.
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
An example would be if you had one originally, but you need to replace it.
4 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Do you know how many it would impact out of the 40,000 if you take away the replacement proofs?
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'm not sure if we're actually able to limit that number.
4 p.m.
NDP
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We could look into it.
4 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
It would be good to know a ballpark figure for how many people would be impacted, because occasionally there will be these two or three stateless kids who hit the media, but we don't know....
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
If I'm not mistaken, I think that was one of the questions we took away last week, and it's in process.
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes.
4 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Putting aside those born abroad, the 800.... The only way to change that is really by changing the law. Is there any way that we could amend Bill C-14or the Citizenship Act? It really wouldn't have anything to do with whether the second-generation cut-off would change, right? Is there any way that we could get around this problem through the adoption law?
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Do you mean other than through changes to the Citizenship Act?
4 p.m.
Director, Legislation and Program Policy, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No.